Yang was selected for contributions to the globalization of the engineering profession, to WSU and its engineering college and for balancing excellence in education with excellence in research, WSU officials say.

Yang is the first recipient to receive the award from the College of Engineering. The award will increase his annual salary by more than $24,000.

Sign Up and Save

In his role, Yang will expand existing academic and research programs and develop new ones to advance WSU’s “experience-based” education approach with a focus on globalization and leadership, WSU said.